


Warmth of the Ocean

by chiakikanata



Category: Ensemble Stars! (Video Game)
Genre: Heavily inspired by the surfing ocean gacha, I haven’t edited the second half which is really unprofessional of me so I pray everything is okay, I saw the ‘Im waiting to receive Chiaki’s love’ line in chocofes and went for it, M/M, Mermaid/Surfer Au, i feel there’s not enough kissing to warrant this being a shipfic, sorry you gotta read 5k of my rambling now, they’re all in love if you squint
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-14
Updated: 2019-07-14
Packaged: 2020-06-28 06:29:12
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,883
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19806607
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chiakikanata/pseuds/chiakikanata
Summary: Love, such a funny word. Chiaki throws it around like a plaything, embracing its many meanings and leaving them open to interpretation. However this time, this day, with these people…There’s only one way he wants the world ‘love’ to be used today.





	Warmth of the Ocean

“You’re getting the hang of this!” Kaoru calls, the salty breeze muffling his voice as it buffets the waves. Cloudy sunlight folds like silk over his eyes, and even from several metres away, Chiaki feels the luminescence is simply too bright for him.

Through the golden seamist, Chiaki himself floats, wobbling precariously on a borrowed and slightly beaten surfboard. 

“It’s because I have an excellent teacher!”

He attempts a thumbs up, but is thrown off guard by the water lurching suddenly beneath him. He slips, and hits his head rather unceremoniously.

Kaoru laughs at this, and sharply inhales a heavy gust of salty air, the moisture crusting around his nose and stinging his throat. Laughter turns to feeble coughing, and Chiaki looks up to see Kaoru making a noise quite similar to that of a dying duck, and flapping his arms around—perhaps to mimic the wing movement of said duck—as the breeze blows strands of sandy golden hair across his face and down his throat.

It’s now Chiaki’s turn to laugh, which he does as he does everything else, with great enthusiasm and an incredible amount of noise. Kaoru would usually reprimand him and accuse him of being an incurable headache in human form, however he is preoccupied, as choking is something which demands ones full attention.

“Moricchi!” He splutters, disbelief painted across his widened eyes and flushed red cheeks (flushed from the effort of coughing, obviously. Nothing else.) “It’s not funny! I’m dying!”

Always one for the theatrics, Chiaki’s eyes widen in mock horror, warm and humorous against the bitter air.

“Choking? Choking is very very bad situation! Life or death! It constricts your airways, you know.”

“Yes I know, dumbass! I’m having my airways constricted _right now_ !” Kaoru says, trying his very hardest not to laugh because this was certainly not funny and his hair was definitely ruined now and _why_ was Chiaki smiling so obnoxiously-?

“In that case, there’s only one thing to do!” 

Kaoru is aware of a splashing sound, and movement at the edge of his vision, and rolls his eyes as he noticed Chiaki’s smile growing larger and getting terrifyingly close to his own personal Kaoru bubble.

“Moricchi…” he sighs, weary, “what the hell are you doing?”

“I’m coming to save you!” Chiaki announces, pride lacing his voice and shining in his eyes.

Kaoru groans, but his lack of enthusiasm doesn’t deter Chiaki, who paddles through the frothy waters, grinning widely.

“Never fear, Hakaze, your hero has arrived! I’ll show you my special life-saving hero technique!”

“Moricchi, I swear to god, if you even _think_ of trying mouth-to-mouth…”

Chiaki doesn’t reply to this as his surfboard draws up against Kaoru’s own. Biting his lip in concentration, he reaches across to gently tug the fine locks of hair away from Kaoru’s face and out of his mouth, humming a soft, unrecognisable tune as he works. His fingers are raw and damp against Kaoru’s sea-swollen skin, cold and clumsy, but still painfully _Chiaki_ , painfully kind and glowing with warmth. Carefully, he brushes through the salty knots and windblown criss-crosses, moving away from Kaoru’s cheeks and down his shoulders, speckled with sun-kisses and webbed with traces of the sea—dewdrops glimmering like stars. Kaoru’s lip curls at the awkward motion despite himself, as Chiaki’s fingers wrench at his scalp, salt rubbing against salt, numb and only half-feeling. 

“Haha, your hair looks really silly when it gets messy.” Chiaki’s smile is soft as he works, tucking the corners of Kaoru’s fringe behind damp ears so his eyes can shine in the light, unobscured.

It’s really quite unfair, actually. Chiaki thinks all his friends are charming, but Kaoru is cruelly pretty, like a girl. It’s the way his eyes warm, shallow bronze heated by the hue of reflected sunlight from the sea, or the embers of contentment flickering deep beneath him. Eyes are the window to the soul, or so they say, and Chiaki supposes it makes sense for someone with an undoubtedly beautiful soul to have such captivating eyes…

Kaoru, oblivious to Chiaki’s inner struggle, huffs in protest. “That’s actually really rude, you know. There’s nothing wrong with my hair.”

Chiaki chuckles quietly, noting the mild edges of Kaoru’s eyes, and the warmth in his smile. Chiaki is supposed to be the warm one, but right now he’s cold and wet and would quite like to curl up in the hotness of Kaoru’s expression and rest there for a while.

Only, just like that, Kaoru is the one moving fast and he’s the one being left behind, waiting (this must be how he makes most of his friends feel at school, actually), blinking in surprise.

Kaoru pulls himself away from Chiaki, and kicks off against his surfboard, propelling himself across the water. A playful smirk begins to tug at his lips, and he gets to his feet.

“Hey, Moricchi, we’re gonna get cold if we just sit around doing nothing,” he says, with an impish wink, “So, I have a suggestion for you.”

“Go on,” Chiaki raises an eyebrow, kicking his legs in the water and thinking that Kaoru might be too late to stop him getting cold.

“Well, the waves here get really big when a breeze like the one we have right now picks up, see,” Kaoru explains, gesturing out at the frothy blue beyond them. “So I was thinking, what about a little competition, huh?”

“Like… a surfing competition?” 

“Yeah!” Kaoru pumps his fist, his voice becoming more certain as he speaks. “We did come here for you to learn to surf, after all.”

Chiaki thinks about this, perhaps liking the idea a little more than he should. Logically, pitting his two hours of surfing practice against Kaoru’s four years was a horrible idea, and one that he shouldn’t even seriously be considering. However logic didn’t have much of a place in the burning hot, passionate mind of Chiaki, and he was somewhat infamous for going along with horrible ideas on a whim.

“It’ll be fun~,” Kaoru says, waggling his eyebrows coaxingly. That was the last nail in Chiaki’s coffin. When had he _ever_ said no to Kaoru when he was making that face, the face where his freckled cheeks flushed pink with excitement and energy, the face that had made Chiaki chase after him on the day they’d first met and say “Hey! Let’s be friends!”–

“Okay! I’m always up for a challenge, so you better be ready!” Chiaki exclaims, standing up on his own surfboard, but with significantly less grace than Kaoru. “What kinda competition do you have in mind?”

Kaoru has clearly thought about this a little in advance (or perhaps he’d known Chiaki would say yes from before he’d opened his mouth—Chiaki is notoriously easy to read, after all—and started planning his answer a few seconds earlier), as he answers almost instantly.

“Let’s see who can catch the biggest wave. That’s what surfing is about after all, in a competitive sense. Getting the biggest wave.”

Chiaki thinks about this for about two seconds. It’s not something that needs much thinking about, really. Kaoru wants to do it, and so shouldn’t Chiaki want to do it by default as well? 

After getting Chiaki’s agreement, Kaoru scans the horizon, hand up to his eyes to shield them from the sun, which shines through the greying clouds with blinding light.

“Okay, I’ll go first, so you know what you have to do.” Kaoru says, turning back to look at Chiaki, who puffs out his cheeks and bears striking resemblance to a dolphin. Cute. 

“Really? I can’t go first?”

“No, because you have no clue what we’re doing, idiot.” Kaoru laughs, as if this is the most obvious thing in the world. Chiaki is unconvinced. 

“It’s surfing. How complicated can it be?” 

Kaoru rolls his whole head in exasperation, and Chiaki chuckles at how tired he looks.

“Just, let me go first, okay?” Kaoru says, a pleading undertone to his voice. “Watch a professional do it, maybe.”

“Oh, so you’re a professional now, huh?” Chiaki calls, as Kaoru slides from his surfboard into the ocean, sending water droplets scattering through the air.

“More so than you!”

Chiaki wiped the water from his face, and blinked the salt from his eyes. He could make out Kaoru, swimming like a fish through the waves, his surfboard simply driftwood floating behind him. Sometimes Chiaki thought he seemed more comfortable in the sea than on land.

It wasn’t long until Kaoru was a pale speck in the distance, the sun outlining his silhouette in an ethereal glow. Definitely, he was more of an ocean dweller than a ground one, and if Chiaki thinks that if he was a little bit closer he’d be able to admire the rivets of water tracing maps along his body, warm like the sun itself.

Kaoru waved, a blur in the distance, and hauled himself into a standing position as a heavy white crest rose behind him.

This must be what is defined as ‘showing off’, thought some deep part of Chiaki’s mind. Kaoru moves like a dancer, swift and confident and fully aware of Chiaki’s intent gaze as it follows him. As casually as a flick of the wrist he swerves sideways, along the wave, letting it lift him up into the sky. Seafoam splashes up onto his hair and Chiaki thinks he must’ve brushed the clouds with the top of his head. He drifts, and suddenly, like a sharp breath of air, kicks off, spinning in a crescent, cutting through the spray in the air, a flying fish spreading his fins and gliding between the barrier of air and sea.

Chiaki blinks, and Kaoru has slowed down, twisting his body against the water as the wave slumps downwards, folding in on itself and evening out in a fine, pearly foam.

“How was that, huh?” Kaoru’s smile is wide, and his cheeks warm with pride.

“A-Ah, yeah!” Chiaki nodded, bobbing his head frantically. “You’re really pretty good at this stuff… aha… I guess experience will do that to you.”

Kaoru’s eyes crinkle shut and he scratches his jawline with a gentle finger, seeming to glow like the sun. 

“Well, I’m not _bad_ at it, I guess…”

Chiaki beamed up at him; Kaoru looked happy, and Chiaki felt a warm bubble in his chest inflating and threatening to pop. Perhaps a side effect of being naturally empathetic, it was as if he was drawing from Kaoru’s joy into his own energy supply. Electric in his veins, Chiaki slipped into the water. 

“Okay, my turn now! I’m feeling all hyped up and ready to go!”

He starts swimming, squirming in the cold water. It’s nice, and soothing, like ice to an open wound, and Chiaki appreciates that because whilst he’s often told he’s warm to the touch very rarely does he feel fire crawling across his skin for no real reason. It was probably the sea air, building up in his lungs, pressurised and desperate to be released. He exhales, watching the oxygen bubbles get lost in the swirling water, and rises upwards, a good few metres away from where Kaoru is watching, cross-legged on his surfboard. Kaoru waves slightly, and Chiaki throws both his arms in the air in an enthusiastic reply.

He stands upright, the breeze bitter against his damp skin, and tries to recall what Kaoru had done to look so impressive earlier. It’s still a competition, after all. What he had liked about Kaoru… it was the effortlessness, right? The grace that came from being so completely self-assured, the brilliant expression he must’ve been wearing that Chiaki wishes he’d been close enough to see properly… it wasn’t planned or within reason, it was free and impulsive and perfectly unrefined.

He could do that. Chiaki was pretty good at being unrefined, as Kaoru himself frequently pointed out. 

Perfect timing, he chances a hidden, uncertain glance behind him to see a steady wave building. It obscures the horizon, and looks like it’ll rise much higher than Kaoru’s wave.

Chiaki catches it at an awkward moment, and feels his surfboard shudder beneath him, but he quickly recovers his balance and wonders if Kaoru would’ve noticed. Lifted upwards, he’s dizzy with vertigo, view obscured by the foam and mist shrouding him. Salt flicks into his eye, and he leans forwards to rub it out. 

One misplaced arm, and he lurches, upwards and backwards, toppled like a house of cards. His legs over him, and water in his hair, up his torso, bubbling around his feet, he reaches for air but finds only water, tight like mercury, slipping from his grasp. Liquid pools in his ears, up his nose, against his eyes, making him dizzy in the blue and black and grey as a sudden, sharp pain cuts through his skull, and then red as the current pulls him away from a heavy set wall of rock. Dead weight, numb limbs, and suddenly a mouthful of sand as he hits the ocean floor, dazed and in shock. Wasn’t he in the sun a moment ago? 

A pain in his chest, and he coughs, taking in stinging salt water, and suddenly he can’t breathe, and the pain in his head bleeds into the rest of his body. Vision blurry, he can’t see where he is, he can’t feel water or sand or air or rock, only glass.

Glass, something fragile and delicate, takes his hand. Chiaki can hardly see, nor can he hear. Soft against his face, something leans down towards him, and there’s blue like the sky, and pristine, seashell green. Skin against his own, unfamiliar but like an anchor to grip onto, and something slippery against his ankles. The world calms to a dark still, and in the final second before Chiaki blacks out, he sees a ripple of light above him, and feels something soft and thoughtful breathe life back into his lungs.

  


———

  


He can hear before he can see again. And unfamiliar voice, which tickles his cheek as it speaks.

“It was really ‘stupid’ of you to jump in the water after him. The ocean is ‘dangerous’, you know? And your friend was completely ‘safe’...” 

Another voice, a little further away, but more familiar.

“Well, how was I supposed to know that? You don’t exactly go around advertising your presence as some sort of ‘mermaid lifeguard’, do you?” 

‘I’m not a ‘lifeguard’. That is a human word~”

A soft laugh, and a huff of indignation.

“Okay, don’t be angry with me, ‘Kaoru’.

“Kaoru..?” Chiaki’s voice is numb and incredibly sore, like his throat had been scrubbed raw by hot coals. He forces his eyes open, and finds his vision blurry, but satisfactory. “Kaoru… Huh..?”

Chiaki can’t see Kaoru (although he can hear him, faintly, scrambling to his feet and shouting something), however there is someone else, floating in the water next to him, peering down at him with a strange fondness. A mysterious looking person, with an unreadable expression on his face, he blinks down at Chiaki, perhaps surprised to see him awake. He’s awfully close, enough to make Chiaki uncomfortable if he wasn’t so fascinated. At first glance, his hair seems to be made of water itself, damp and dripping, but still airy and floating in an invisible breeze as if suspended in the ocean.

“You’re not Kaoru…”

“Nope, no he’s not, that’s me, I’m Kaoru!” 

Kaoru explodes into Chiaki’s vision, butting heads with the blue-haired person and pushing him backwards. Kaoru pays no mind to this (or the dull pain that must be throbbing in his head) and grabs Chiaki by the shoulders, hauling him upright.

“You’re alive!” He exclaims, awe and disbelief in his voice. “I mean, I didn’t think you were actually dead, but… it was really scary!”

Chiaki is quite surprised to see Kaoru’s eyebrows pressed close together, and his lips tight, drawn into a thin line. He was relieved, yes, and Chiaki guesses it’s not too vain of him to assume that as obvious (everyone would be worried if they thought their friend had drowned, right?), but what surprises him is the… he thinks it might be restraint? Kaoru’s like a bottle filled to bursting point, but rather than exploding all at once he’s slowly letting the water trickle outwards, contained and almost unnoticeable.

“I was really scared, because, like, you fell off the board and that was one thing, but then there was this bit of red in the water, and I thought it was your swimming trunks at first, but then I realised it was actually blood and I had no clue what to do-“

Kaoru’s rambling is interrupted by a small cough. The grip on Chiaki’s shoulders loosens slightly as Kaoru turns to the third member of their group, who is rubbing his forehead and pouting slightly. 

“That ‘hurt’, Kaoru. You shouldn’t hurt others, you know. Not even if you’re really very ‘excited’ and distracted.” 

Kaoru smiles sheepishly, and waves his hand, brushing the concerns of this weird person away. 

“Right, right. Sorry, Kanata.”

“Kanata?” Chiaki tilts his head, and looks over at this supposed ‘Kanata’. Whilst Chiaki and Kaoru are crouched on a damp, rocky surface, Kanata is submerged from the waist down in ocean water, as if simply standing in the shallows. Although Chiaki doesn’t really think that’s possible. The three of them seem to be in some underwater cave, surrounded by grey flecked rock on all sides. Multiple tunnels of water break off from the opening they’re currently sat in—waterways, with very precarious stone paths clinging to their sides. The water seems to be that of the ocean, then, and it’s probably quite deep.

“Kanata… you seem kinda… uh, I mean to say…” Chiaki fumbles over his words, and Kanata waits patiently, his face not changing in the slightest. “Familiar, I guess?”

Kanata nods. “You have a better ‘memory’ than I thought. After all, when I found you, you were almost ‘unconscious’.” 

“Unconscious…” Chiaki thinks, his thoughts wafting back in time. His most recent memories were all blurry and faded by the seawater but…

_Something soft and careful brushing his face, breathing bubbles of life into his lungs and the ocean itself. White with foam, soft and moss-like, pushed down to the seabed by some powerful force, perhaps a shoal of fish moving at great speed… light blue, like the line between the sky and the sea, floating in the current and tickling his cheeks._

“You!” Chiaki exclaims, jumping slightly as it clicks in his mind. “You were the person who found me after I capsized!”

“Capsized is perhaps too ‘big’ of a word to describe a surfboard…” Kanata frowns, “but ‘yes’. I, maybe, ‘saved’ you from drowning. The ocean is ‘scary’... silly Chiaki, you should’ve been more careful.”

“Yeah…” Kaoru speaks up, looking down at his feet, which were bruised and bleeding slightly. “I should’ve known better… you weren’t experienced enough for that dumb competition, and… well, yeah, if our friend the mermaid hadn’t showed up…”

He grimaces, and his expression darkened. Chiaki’s heart aches, and he reaches over to gently rub Kaoru’s shoulder, hoping the touch of his slightly soggy but very much _alive_ self would comfort him a bit.

“Hmm… Kaoru…” He thinks, rather dazedly, that something is off. “Did you say… well, I mean, this might sound weird but did you say… did you say uh, mermaid?”

Kaoru doesn’t reply straight away, but a gentle splashing brings Chiaki’s eyes over to Kanata, who is smiling and looking rather pleased with himself.

“You ‘heard’ him correctly, Chiaki~” Kanata was speaking, but his words completely missed the mark, as Chiaki’s senses numb with surprise. Kanata was still there, of course, but flicking up by his side, gently waving at him, was, well, a mermaid’s tail. 

The only light in the cave comes from illuminous rocks nestled into the walls at various points, emitting a gentle glow, like a fine mist, into the room. The crystal blue scales on what Chiaki is forced to believe is Kanata’s tail absorb and reflect this light, glittering and fading like shooting stars in the dark. It’s dazzling, and leaves Chiaki feeling slightly stunned, like he’d been staring at the sun for too long.

“That’s… that’s definitely not real.” Chiaki decides, and Kanata lets his tail flop into the water with a dissatisfied splash. 

“That’s not very nice, Chiaki. I can ‘hear’ you, you know?”

“Aah, no, I didn’t mean it to offend you,” Chiaki waves his arms apologetically, coming to his senses again. “It’s just… very hard to believe.”

“Well.” Kanata folded his arms, and tilted his chin upwards. “It’s the truth.” 

“Yeah.” Kaoru nods, and gives Chiaki and empathetic look. “It’s… definitely not what I expected to see today. When you fell into the water and I realised you were bleeding, I jumped in after you and swam to where you are. I…” He pauses, gripping his trunks in clenched fists, “I didn’t think there was much point because you’d been under and would’ve had the breath knocked out of you with your injury… but, you were there, and I couldn’t tell if you were alive or not but this guy,” he gestures at Kanata, who offers a small wave, “was holding you in his arms and took off through a weird tunnel thing in the rock. He beckoned for me to follow, and we ended up here.”

“Huh…” Chiaki frowns, still feeling a little lightheaded from his injuries, which he’d actually forgot existed, given the shock of being rescued by a mermaid, of all things. He reaches to the back of his head, but his hand is gently caught by Kanata’s

“Don’t try and ‘touch’ it. There’s a dressing there, but you might disturb it. That would not ‘help’ the recovery.”

“A dressing..?” Chiaki lets his hand fall to his side, and Kanata squeezes it, looking rather uncomfortable.

“Ah, well… I’m not the ‘best’ with medicine, but I have a ‘friend’ who, many years ago, taught me to ‘sew’. So, I stitched your wound and dressed it with a special ‘healing balm’ made from the ‘jewels of the sea’. I promise, it’s very effective.”

Hearing this makes Chiaki want to touch the site of his injury much more than before. But he restrains himself, and focuses his excess energy into returning Kanata’s squeeze as much as he could. Kanata’s hand was very cold, and smooth like ice. As someone living underwater, that didn’t surprise Chiaki, and was probably healthy… but, even if he wasn’t fully human, part of him still was, right? And humans shouldn’t be cold, that’s kind of lonely. They should be warm, and if someone isn’t warm, and they’re cold, or sad, you need to hug and squeeze them to heat them up again.

Kanata seems surprised by this, and a small squeak sneaks through his tightly closed lips. Kaoru snorts slightly, and shakes his head.

“That’s Moricchi for you, Kanata. Get used to excessive, uncomfortable physical content.”

“Hakaze!” Chiaki cries in protest, “It’s not uncomfortable! I’m warning you up!”

“Chiaki is ‘very’ hot…” Kanata rubs his hand absentmindedly, sighing a little. “It feels like I’m ‘melting’...”

“See.” Kaoru makes a triumphant ‘hmpf’ sound, his smile becoming more comfortable. “You’re a little overbearing at times. Maybe let Kanata go, for a bit?”

“Ah… sorry, Kanata,” Chiaki laughs, feeling slightly self-conscious, watching Kanata intensely for a reaction. Is ‘melting’ positive or negative?

Kanata doesn’t reply, from where he stares down at his hand. It looks exactly the same as before. Pale, like the snow that sometimes falls into the sea and dissolves into the translucent blue of his veins, the colour of the waves themselves. It’s definitely not melted, or damaged in any way. Well, his fingers feel a little strange and tingly, so perhaps his nerves were singed. It’s uncomfortable, but he can’t say he dislikes it. 

“Chiaki.”

“A-Ah! Yes, Kanata?” Chiaki jumps slightly, and Kaoru snorts from behind him.

“Down here in these caves, it’s cold and wet. It’s an ‘unpleasant’ feeling to humans, right? I have always lived in places like these, since I was ‘small’, as is befitting of a creature like ‘myself’. However you and ‘Kaoru’ are humans who belong to the ‘sun’ and it would not do for you to stay here. You people don’t ‘like’ the contact with the water, no?”

Chiaki isn't sure what to say to that. Was that Kanata saying he, as a creature of the ocean, didn’t like humans or want to be in contact with them? Or was it rather something else, something that strains Chiaki and makes him want to grab both of Kanata’s hands in his own for reasons he can’t truly explain.

Kaoru, ever so cool and calm Kaoru, quick thinking and kind and eager to please those around him, saves Chiaki once more.

“I like the sea. It’s cold and unfamiliar, but that’s why people are drawn to it. It’s kinda… relaxing in its mystery, and comforting. That’s… that’s how you feel about the land, right?”

Chiaki is surprised to hear a crack in Kaoru’s voice, and wonders if he had maybe missed an important conversation whilst he had been unconscious. Or, the less savoury option to think about, Kaoru had some natural, deep connection with Kanata, and understood him much better than worried, confused Chiaki, who knew nothing other than that this boy was cold, and needed heating up.

Kaoru continues to speak, shuffling a tiny bit closer to the waterside. “You think it’s hot, and suffocating, right? It’s unfamiliar and scary, but it’s packed full of things that we, who live there, don’t really see, right?”

Kanata nods, resting his hand on his chin and looking completely bemused but also… pleased. Chiaki looks deep into his eyes, and feels something there has been touched, by a soft, gentle hand.

“The ‘land’ is strange. It’s very loud, and ‘hard to breathe’ but… in some ways, noise is better than silence. In these caves, not even the ‘fishies’ come to visit me, and so it leaves me feeling strange. ‘Stranded’, all by myself. I don’t ‘mind’ because I am ‘safe’, and that is what matters most, but… I like swimming closer to the ‘shore’ and seeing the people ‘play’ in the waves that I love so ‘much’. Although, I’m not really sure why. Something that ‘silly’ and human… it’s weird for a ‘mermaid’ to get pleasure from it.”

Kaoru’s gaze softens with understanding, and his head falls sideways onto his shoulders. It seems to be a cue Kanata doesn’t understand, as he frowns, and squints at Kaoru.

Chiaki himself feels something aching at the base of his spine, watching the scene unfold. He knows Kaoru, and understands his struggles better than most. However, Kanata… Kanata, who saved his life and asked for nothing in return, and who doesn’t understand the warmth of human touch… Kanata is someone he shouldn’t know, and shouldn’t feel connected to in the slightest. It’s okay for him to feel this way with Kaoru, or so he tells himself, they’re old friends going back quite a bit by now. But Kanata… if he wasn’t so strangely happy, he’d be concerned with how similar he felt they were.

He had no right to assume things about someone else, especially not to make himself feel better. ‘In this place where not even the fish will visit him’... despite all common sense, Chiaki can’t help but look back on his past self and feel some sort of connection. He hopes he’s not imagining this, and willing it to exist… the parallels between Kanata and his younger self, coughing and alone at home, whilst all his friends played outside and enjoyed the sun as it warmed to it’s full heat and enveloped the playground in summer.

Kaoru is patting Kanata on the shoulder now, and both of them are smiling. It makes Chiaki feel fuzzy inside, and he decides he likes it. This is much nicer than worrying about sad things, or things that make him think too hard.

The others seem to notice him staring, and turn to face him, expectant looks on their faces.

“Moricchi? You okay there?” Kaoru jokingly waves his hand across Chiaki’s face. “Did you want something?”

“Are you getting ‘uncomfortable’ sat on the ‘rocks’?” Kanata asks, sounding concerned.

“The rocks? I mean they’re not the best but see,” he quickly gets to his feet, “If I stand up they’re not jabbing into my legs!”

Kaoru laughs, looking down at his own legs. As Chiaki had noted before, his feet are covered in crusted blood, and his toes are swelling and going purple and blotchy. 

“Oh yeah, Hakaze, that looks really sore… Chiaki trails off.

Kanata purses his lips, and makes an unimpressed noise.

“I offered him some ‘medicine’, but he refused it. Silly Kaoru. You don’t want to get ‘infected’ do you? That’s much more important than ‘looking cool’ or tough.”

“Who said I was trying to look tough! I am tough! Seriously, it doesn’t hurt!” Kaoru exclaimed, as Chiaki put an arm around his waist to console him.

“Hakaze doesn’t really like medicine, or doctors, or anything like that, see,” he explained to Kanata, who made a small ‘ah’ sound. 

“In that case,” he says, slowly, “we will just have to ‘look after’ Kaoru without giving him ‘medicine’. Although… it does make it quite ‘hard’.” 

“You uh, you really don’t.” Kaoru makes a blank expression, unimpressed with the attention he’s getting. “I’m fine, I just need to rest my legs. Or rather, sit down somewhere a bit more comfy.”

He shuffles slightly, and Chiaki is acutely aware of how heavily Kaoru is leaning on him. Kaoru is the kind of person that likes to pretend he’s not bothered by stuff that’s actually really taking a toll on him, and Chiaki is always more than willing to go along with him.

“Well, even if you’re alright, Hakaze, I feel kinda sore… Kanata, there are lots of tunnels in these caves, right? Do any of them lead to somewhere maybe a bit less… rocky?”

Kanata ponders this, and raises a hand in a ‘eureka!’ motion. “There’s an area a little ‘further back’ where the sun can reach, sometimes… so, ‘moss’ grows on the rocks. I ‘don’t like’ the heat, so I don’t go there often, but… if you want to rest there before ‘returning’ home, I can take you.”

“Going home…” Chiaki frowns, his expression creasing. He’d almost forgotten that ‘going home’ was going to be part of this experience.

Kanata nods, “you’ll have to ‘go home’ soon. After all, you’ll have ‘family’ who are worried about you.” His voice is bitter, and Chiaki can’t help but notice a tenseness in his shoulders. 

“They’ll get ‘lonely’ if you don’t go back to them.”

Kaoru snorts, and Kanata jolts in surprise. “Kaoru? What’s so ‘funny’?” 

Kaoru’s warm laughter echoes through the chamber, pleasant to the ears. “It’s nothing, don’t worry about it. Moricchi’ll probably be in trouble if he’s not home for teatime, won’t you!” He pokes Chiaki in the side, earning a surprised squeal.

Kanata’s eyes soften in understanding as he looks at Kaoru, and once again, Chiaki worries he’s missing something. He’d rather not worry though, if he can help it. Here, with these two people, he feels at peace. His heart pounding much louder than the pain in his head, Kaoru is cold and soggy to hold, but something about the contact satisfies Chiaki, and makes him warm. 

“Let’s not ‘worry’ about things like ‘home’ for now, then.” Kanata says, and Chiaki feels Kaoru deflate in relief next to him. “We can keep ‘ourselves’ in this ‘happy bubble’ for a little longer. That’s good, right, Kaoru?”

Kaoru nods, and locks eyes with Kanata, peering past Chiaki’s messy mop of hair. He has a good smile, Chiaki thinks, absentmindedly.

“That’s good, Kanata.”

“Right, we’re wasting time here, and Haka- my legs are gonna be getting sore soon!” Chiaki announces, breaking the heavy silence that had filled the cavern like a thick blanket. “Kanata, you can show us to this moss room, right?”

Kanata nods, the stray piece of hair on his head wobbling. Chiaki has to work very hard not to laugh.

“Okay, but Moricchi, are you okay to walk? I uh… I don’t think I can carry you.” Kaoru admits.

“I’ll be fine. I’m the one carrying you, after all, like a real hero.”

Kaoru gives Chiaki the same exasperated look he always has on his face when Chiaki talks about heroes, and in the haze of underwater, Chiaki swears he can see him smile.

Kanata hums slightly, and looks between Chiaki and Kaoru. His eyes are kind, but veiled. That’s okay, Chiaki thinks. They’ve got plenty of time to pull the veils aside today. To most it would seem unnecessary but Chiaki _likes_ Kanata, likes him in the way he likes Kaoru, stupidly enough. And somewhere in those shallow eyes is the entrance to the deepest, bluest part of the ocean, twinkling with love and annoyance and a rainbow of emotions that Chiaki can only dream of.

“Hmm, I ‘see’...” Kanata taps his finger on his chin thoughtfully. “In that case, Chiaki can keep supporting ‘Kaoru’ and I will ‘support’ Chiaki~” Kanata holds out a damp hand to Chiaki, smiling softly. 

“The three of us will be the best hero squad the ocean has ever seen,” Chiaki nods, reaching for Kanata. At first, his touch is light, hesitant to burn Kanata like he had before. But Kanata, unsatisfied, eagerly loops his thumb around Chiaki’s, and weaves their fingers together, red on blue, hot on cold.

“Hero squad? What’s ‘that’?” Kanata frowned. 

“It’s… ugh…” Chiaki struggles to articulate himself with both his arms restricted, but refuses to admit defeat, not to Kanata. “It’s like… people who help others.”

“Help?”

“Yeah! Makes them feel good things, you know?” 

Kanata thinks for a second, looking at where his and Chiaki’s hands are joined, and then over at where Kaoru is limping slightly, leaning against Chiaki’s shoulder.

“Good ‘things’? Like… this, right? Is that ‘right’ Chiaki? This feeling… what is it? It’s ‘strange’.” He admits, tilting his head to get a better view of the two people accompanying him.

“This... well, this would be human love, I guess. You can feel it, right?” Chiaki asks, looking over to Kanata, not bothering to hide the pink dusting his cheeks in the darkness. 

Kanata thinks for a moment. “Hmm… not ‘yet’. Not ‘fully’, anyway. But,” he smiles—a smile that seems to resemble the sun, the glimmer of light in the sea, and maybe even life itself—and squeezes Chiaki’s hand, uncaring for the heat. “I’ll be waiting to receive it… Chiaki’s ‘love’...”

“Yeah? Well I won't. That’s… that’s dumb.” Kaoru said, feebly trying to resist the tug of Chiaki’s arm around his waist.

“Ehe, I’ll be waiting to receive Kaoru’s ‘love’ as well… and no matter what, I hope you’ll both ‘wait’ for mine, too.”

  


———

  


Love, such a funny word. Chiaki throws it around like a plaything, embracing its many meanings and leaving them open to interpretation. However this time, this day, with these people… 

There’s only one way he wants the world ‘love’ to be used today.

  


**Author's Note:**

> I’m not 100% satisfied with this but if I hadn’t finished it where I did/only included what I have I wouldn’t have got it in for the deadline so *sigh* 
> 
> Anyway chiakaokana good sorry there’s no blatant being in love with each other it ended up more subtle than I planned but I hope you still enjoyed it! Please check out the rest of the amazing works in the eso bc everyone did amazingly (esp my teammates... they’re so talented I cry)


End file.
